Sunday, July 26, 2009

This was the largest amount of food by far that I have tried to cook. Our brisket was 14 lbs. In all, nearly 30 lbs. of food and the associated water that goes with it. ( I had a gallon of water to cook the corn. That's 8.6 lbs, plus 10 apples, 18 ears of corn , plus maybe 2 lbs of peas with their water. )

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Monday, July 20, 2009

The first firing was 305 F , these improvements from that number are all due to me fixing bad design work and poor craftsmanship. There's another 70 degrees there in that puzzle pile, yet to capture.Lots of clips of all this, but life has been hard lately , and I've been away from my Mac.

Remember one thing, Maria Telkes took her oven to 437 F 50 years ago.

Everything else has just been making pizza boxes into something useful.

This thing is like owning a Double A Fuel Dragster.A couple of " tweeks " , and this thing stands up, and runs like a bat out of hell.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Sorry no clip , I cleaned up my mess today, and made most of my " corn pan ".It's a 16 X 24 X 6 inch box. With a fancy lid. You'll see it tomorrow. We're cooking tomorrow. Ceremonial corn bread all day long. I have chosen a name for my oven . The Maria Telkes. I decided on a ship name. Not a machine name. I love to give machines names. So from now on, she's called " The Maria Telkes ". There's a bit of "seamanship" in running her.

305 , that number is about to go up by another 100 degrees . There are several adjustments yet to be made. Bringing the reflector bonnet into it's correct angles. I did this with one side yesterday during the first sun shot, and saw a 20 degree jump. There is a door gasket leak , to fix, lot's of dialing it in so to speak. Baking the first ceremonial corn bread tomorrow.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Sunday, July 5, 2009

9 1/2 hours today. But the door is ready to hang. And it is pretty clean. All my mistakes in fabrication came together in the door, and the hole it fits into. But it will be tight, and it will close. That was a big leap. And I think I cleared it.

Just about solved the problem of how to keep an 8-ft. high "Bonnet" on the oven in the wind. No small problem the past 2 days. This thing is huge. I really like standing next to it , it's what I call "man sized". 1 guy can manage it. It's been a design rule of mine for a very long time.

WHAT THIS IS

What This Part II

A vlog of the building of a large Telkes Type solar oven on a wheeled carriage, using heavy 26 inch garden cart wheels.The total surface area of my glass is 673.75 sq. in. or 4.86 sq feet.That's 24.5 X 27.5 inches.The reflectors are 6,129 sq in. or 42.56 sq feet .That's 8.82 to 147.42 sq feet of total collecting power going into a box that is 10.89 cu. feet of space. Insulated with 3 types of insulation 5 inches thick.The oven is all steel construction. Construction began on June 1st 2009, and is documented in short clips, of each day's work.The project begins on June 1st 2009 in the archives .

What This IFor 40 years the concept of solar ovens has rotated around the idea of bringing relief to a charcoal starved 3rd world. I read "Direct Use of the Sun's Energy" by Farrington Daniels in 1973. And it was 10 years old when I found it. It's the bible of solar power. Nothing has changed about the things Daniels laid out. Nothing. Materials science developed since 1964, but the things Daniels states about the sun, and the problems of capturing, and using that stored energy, it haven't changed a bit.

But back to the ovens. This spring I planted a lot of sweet corn with the idea I would cook it , and sell it on a stick. Always with the idea of using solar power to do it. So, I went looking for the state of the art in solar ovens. It's still stuck on all those charcoal burners in the 3rd world.

Which is to say , " How do we make a solar oven from cardboard, and tin foil, and heat a 3 qt pot ? "

I'm serious, a fellow perfected that oven . It's called the Global Sun Oven . You can buy one for $289 bucks. Your purchase sends one somewhere into the 3rd world as well. And they're great, but I can't cook 100 ears of corn on one, all at one time. Which made me think , neither can someone in the 3rd world. No one has designed , and built a small solar oven like a backyard grill. With wheels on one end, and handles on the other, about 4 feet long.

So, that's what this is, this is the building of that oven, with that goal in mind. All the designs, plans and clips will be free to anyone who can use them. Whether, it's tamales in Mexico, lamb in Mecca, or corn on Buddy Holly Ave.